PELO MALO (BAD HAIR) PELO MALO

PELO MALO (BAD HAIR)

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK

The center is on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.

In celebration of the International Decade for Afrodescendants, join ImageNation Cinema Foundation, the AfroLatin@ Project and the Afrolatino Festival of NY at RAW SPACE Culture Gallery for a limited run of Pelo Malo (Bad Hair), an exploration of race, homophobia and identity in Latin America.

Junior (Samuel Lange) is a beautiful nine-year-old boy, with big brown eyes, a delicate frame, and a head of luxurious dark curls. But Junior aches to straighten those curls, to acquire a whole new look befitting his emerging fantasy image of himself as a long-haired singer. As the opportunity approaches to have his photo taken for the new school year, that ache turns into a fiery longing.

Junior’s mother, Marta (Samantha Castillo), is barely hanging on. The father of her children has died, she recently lost her job as a security guard, and she now struggles to put a few arepas on the table for Junior and his baby brother. She loves her kids, would endure almost anything for them, but she cannot abide Junior’s preening and fussing over his appearance. The boy’s grandmother (Nelly Ramos), however, encourages and nurtures his behavior; even though she knows why he visits the same newsstand every morning — the one tended by a handsome, slick young man.

Junior doesn’t even know yet what it means to be gay, but the very notion prompts Marta to set out to “correct” Junior’s condition before it fully takes hold.

The slippery nature of identity — how it forms in us, the ways it tells us how we might want to look or who we desire — is at the heart of this third feature from Venezuelan writer and director Mariana Rondón. At times harsh but often tender, Bad Hair exudes compassion for all involved, even Marta, whose concerns may be grounded in homophobic panic but whose desperation is almost palpable.

This is a story of people doing what they feel they have to, partly out of fear, but also out of love.

ImagiNATIONS by Andrea Arroyo│ ImagiNACIONES por Andrea Arroyo

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Hailing from Costa Rica, Christopher Unpezverde Núñez, who lived as an undocumented immigrant in the U.S. for four years, is thriving in New York City. As a queer, partially blind artist, Christopher empowers his peers and our communities alike, just by being himself. #IHW2020pic.twitter.com/J1XWv3pUOC

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